Colorado: Wandered

Postponement 22 February 2010

By Keystone standards, it has been dumping for the last several days, dropping almost two feet of snow in the last week or so. Maybe I exaggerate but after the parching winter so far, snow these few days straight comes as a welcome relief. We’d begun to think — Summit County locals, that is — that Ullr had given up on us. He’d packed his Scandinavian bags for points south, and Tahoe, although in reality everyone understood that an El Nino winter would swing storm systems down to the San Juans instead of across the I-70 resorts. We’d all been charge 90 + dollars for the same experience any Midwestern resort goer purchases, with the addition of the mountain scenery of course; the next closest soybean field looks nothing like the Gore Range.S

That said, it’s too easy to knock skiing elsewhere when talking about the Mountain West, but the sport ultimately rests on making the way to the bottom of the hill enjoyably, an act possible at even the lamest ski bump out East. Hidden valley thrills Carhart-wearers in the same way that I’d imagine Jackson Hole sets stomachs a-roil in even the more advanced, Orage-sporting crowd.

And no matter what you’re wearing, fresh snow makes it better. Here’s hoping that storm dumps more and more, so that both I-70 and Vail Pass close. Time for the real stuff.